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Au courant

Au courant is a borrowed or loan word from the French. Borrowed words or loan words are terms that have been taken from other languages and used as English words. We will examine the meaning of the term au courant, where it came from and some examples of its use in sentences.

Au courant means to be up-to-date, to be abreast of current trends, fashion or ideas. Au courant may also mean stylish. The term au courant may be applied to situations as diverse as philosophy, politics, or art. It was first used in English in the 1760s, borrowed from the French. Au courant means as a regular course or with that which is current. Au courant is an adjective, note that it is rendered as two separate words. In most instances, the word current may be substituted for the term au courant.

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Examples

This au courant delicacy is as rooted in the hippie tradition as those Birkenstocks you wear around the house. (Mother Jones Magazine)

The examples of boy wonders in football coaching are au courant, most notably the guy in Los Angeles and the one up in Buffalo. (The Chicago Tribune)

Portlandia has spent years lampooning a city that prides itself on aspirational liberalism, lovingly poking fun at its artisan-food demand or petty competition to appear au courant among peers. (Billboard Magazine)

People talk a lot about the curative powers of the Marie Kondo method and this year’s au courant cleaning trend, Swedish death cleaning. (GQ Magazine)

Au courant with producers like Oneohtrix Point Never, the 27-year-old finds ideas in genre pioneers including Karlheinz Stockhausen, Charles Cohen, and Terry Riley, composer of 1969’s A Rainbow in Curved Air. (The Austin Chronicle)